Improvement in finger-nail trimmers



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE.

VALENTINE FOGERTY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN FINGER-NAIL TRIMMERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 161,1 l2, dated March 23, 1875; application led February 24, 1875.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, VALENTINE FOGERTY, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Instrument for Trimming Finger-Nails, of which the following is a specification: y

This device, which is designed to trim the fingernails to the segment of a circle, is constructed as follows:

Figure l shows it iu sectional elevation; Fig. 2, in plan, and Fig. 3 in side elevation. Fig. 4 shows, in side and face elevations, a cutter, made at each end as a lc, one end being ine and the other coarse cut. Fig. 5is a side elevation of a cutter, showing a curved le at one end and a plain file at the other. Fig. 6 is a side elevation of a cutter having a knife at one end and a le at the other. Fig. 7 is a plan view of the detached body, showing a cutter or file formed integral therewith.

The cylindrical body a is concaved or (lished at each end, and, preferably, is formed, as shown, with a re-entering or inwardly-projecting flange, designed to enter between the finger-nail and the skin of the finger end, to protect the latter from the cutter. A groove is turned at b around the body a in the center of its length. The ring c fits over the body a, and has formed therein a transverse groove,

' which receives any olie ofthe cutters shown, or

others of suitable form. The handle d passes through the ring c, and screws int-o nut-threads formed in the cutter, the end of the handle projecting toward the center of the device, and, entering the` groove formed in the body a, keeps all the parts in their proper relative position, and serves as a lever by which the cutter is caused to move in arcs of a circle when operating to trim a linger-nail. The end of the handle may be made as a pick or cleaner for the nails, anda link may be attached, as shown, by which the device may be Worn on a watch-chain as an ornament when the device is made of gold or silver, or is plated and fashioned for ornamental effect. If the body a is made of steel it may have a groove cut in one or both of its end flanges, which groove or grooves may have file-teeth raised therein, as shown in Fig. 7.

The operation is as follows: vThe ball of the finger being inserted in one concavity of the body a, with the inwardly-projecting liauge between the nail and the skin of the finger, the ring and cutter are vibrated by moving the handle, and portions of the nail are removed as it is thrust toward the cutter, leaving the nail end circular in form, corresponding to the path of movement of the cutter. I prefer to remove the excess of projection of finger-nails in the form of iilings by the action of file-cutters, rather than in the form of chips or cuttings by the action of knife-cutters.

To use the device shown in Fig. 7, partly unscrew the handle, take out the body a, insert the ball ofthe linger in'oue of its concavities, with the nail resting in the ijle-cut groove, and then with the other hand rotate the piece a.

If the body-piece a should beintended for use only in its simplest form, viz., with a circula-r lile-cut groove around it, its concavity might be very slight, a mere hole in or through the center of a serving to let the end of the` finger press into the hole, the flesh thus serving as a pivot about which the piece a would be rotated while subjecting the nail to the cutting action of the file-cut groove.

Having described my invention, I claim- The combination of a nail-cutter with the concaved ingerholdiug body a, adapted to operate with reference to each other substan-4 tially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two'subscribing witnesses.

VALENTINE FOGER'IY.

Witnesses:

J. B. Gosiav, L. H. LATIMER. 

